Star "Megastar"

The Megastar pistol, made by Star in Spain, is a big beast of a pistol. It was made in .45 ACP and 10mm Auto calibres. The one pictured is chambered in 10mm. There's no way around it; this gun is big, but surprisingly is isn't hard to shoot well. From the factory the Megastar came with a magazine disconnect device. It is easily removed, and makes the trigger pull a lot better if it is done. It can be replaced as easily as it is removed. Magazines hold 14 rounds of 10mm Auto and can be difficult to find. Search your local gun shows. The weight of this tank of a gun really tames the recoil of the 10mm round. My Megastar is an early model, and neither the pistol nor the 10mm round had really matured yet. 10mm cases were made with differing extractor groove widths. The factory-stock Megastar would function well with the wider grooves but not with the narrower ones. Some careful work thinning the extractor claw with a stone eliminated this problem. I do not know if that situation was ever addressed by Star or the ammo makers.

My main complaint about the Megastar is about the safety lever. It is almost impossible to push it OFF with the thumb of the shooting hand. It works fine if you use your off hand to operate the safety lever (which is not a decocker -- with the safety ON the trigger can be safely pulled to decock the pistol) but when shooting one-handed it can be a real problem. Yes, the Megastar can be carried "cocked and locked just like a 1911, but again, taking the safety OFF is annoyingly difficult. The gun's trigger is the traditional DA/SA type, so you can leave the hammer down on a chambered round and use the long double-action pull for the first shot if that suits you. There is an internal firing pin block that prevents the pistol from firing unless the trigger is fully pulled. The Megastar is very accurate, partly due to the flared or spherical muzzle design which allows the muzzle end of the barrel to fit snugly into the slide without need of a separate barrel bushing.

Field-stripping is pretty similar to a lot of designs based on the Browning P-35 "Hi-Power" or the CZ-75. Make sure the pistol is NOT loaded. Remove the magazine. Press the takedown pin from left-to-right. Pull it out as far as it will go -- it won't fall out and get lost. Pull the slide off from the frame. Remove the recoil spring, guide rod, and barrel from the slide. Reassemble in reverse order.

This is an accurate, reliable, strong, and powerful handgun; it is also a large heavy pistol. Oh, did I mention that this pistol is built like a tank?


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